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Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics is one of the two largest comic publishers in the world and has been around since 1939. Since the 1990s, in most years it has sold the most comics, has had the most popular and profitable characters, and generated the most revenue from its comic books in the comic book industry. Since it was purchased by Disney in 2009, it's property has become the most valuable in the movie business with numerous blockbusters. Its property has also been seen in other types of media either produced by Marvel or via license including live-action TV series, animated TV series, roleplaying games, card games, animated movies, paperback novels, console games, arcade games, and smartphone games. There are also toys, models, clothing, bedding, and other products that have licensed their property. Background Marvel Comics, which is now owned by Disney has published a number of comic books starring characters from the Cthulhu Mythos. Which have appeared in comic book series and issues both within the mainstream universe (Earth-616, the Prime Reality) and alternate realities. It was during the 1970s when Mythos characters, entities, and races appeared in Marvel usually in the Conan comics (e.g. Conan the Barbarian, Savage Conan, etc). They also appeared in a number of issues of Journey into Mystery and in Marvel Comics Presents. Afterwards the characters of the Cthulhu Mythos would occasionally appear in one or two comic issues. Recently Marvel published a 3-part mini-series called the "Haunt of Horror: H.P. Lovecraft" under the MAX line of comics (whose market is adults), whose stories do not occur on Earth-616 unlike those of Conan which took place in the distant past of Earth-616. The Old Ones (Many-Angled Ones) The Old Ones who are also known as the "Many Angled Ones" and the "Great Old Ones" are a race or group of multiversal eldritch entities, who have within their ranks eldritch gods from both the Cthulhu Mythos and the Conan world (Thurian & Hyborian age), in addition to those created by Marvel Comics itself. Among the Cthulhu Mythos entities that are Old Ones in the Marvel Multiverse are Shub-Niggurath, Yog-Sothoth, Tsathoggua, Zvilpogghua, and Cthulhu. From one of Robert E. Howard's Conan stories comes Shuma-Gorath who in the Marvel Multiverse is actually the greatest and mightiest of them all, the ruler of the Old Ones. The Marvel Multiverse is an infinite one (per the One-Above-All, who rules the Multiverse), at minimum the number of known realities numbers in the millions (the number which have representatives in the Congress of Realities). The Old Ones are scattered across this multiverse with some living in the positive universes, beings that are powerful enough to pose a threat to a world to those that pose a threat to the whole universe. In the space between the infinite realities, is where many of the Old Ones live or exist, from which they attempt to corrupt and conquer those realities. Any world or universe which is conquered by them gradually decays and dies. One such universe was called the Cancerverse, where the abstract entity known as "Death" was killed and nothing died. It was a universe corrupted by the Many-Angled Ones and life ran riot, like a cancer. The greatest of the Old Ones is Shuma-Gorath. His aura-pressure alone would destroy multiple galaxies in the Prime Reality. Within his own dimension he is omnipotent and he has conquered 100s of universes (and likely numerous worlds in other dimensions). He exists simultaneously in many dimensions across the Multiverse, what others encounter are manifestations of Shuma-Gorath in those realities as he is incapable of completely crossing over. He cannot be destroyed for he is pure energy and if "killed", Shuma-Gorath eventually reforms. Shuma-Gorath has a wide variety of powers, including altering reality and is able to destroy universes. It is not known how old he is, but Shuma-Gorath claims to have existed before the creation of the current multiverse (at which time there had been sixth previous iterations of the Multiverse). Every single Old One is a conqueror or destroyer, whether of the world on which they are at or of other dimensions and universe. Quoggoth is a Many-Angled One who was created by Shuma-Gorath. Who eventually challenged Shuma-Gorath during the time of the dinosaurs. An entity so powerful that even Shuma-Gorath could not destroy him, though he was able to imprison Quoggoth on Earth and has remained so for 10s of millions of years. Another Old One, Slorioth like Shuma-Gorath exists simultaneously across many planes and when he is summoned into a universe, he will continue to expand until that universe is destroyed. In the Prime Reality there is Asteroth, who is both an Old One and an Elder God. Who was imprisoned a long time ago but was recently released. Asteroth has one agenda, the destruction of the universe. On Earth, the greatest of the Old Ones is Chthon. He studied the mystical forces of the cosmos, becoming Earth's first black sorcerer. Chthon wrote down of all his knowledge and dark spells in a tome, the Darkhold. Which would become the source for a number of dark spellbooks, one of which was the infamous Necronomicon (its content was a small part of the Darkhold's lore). Chthon was one of the Elder Gods on Earth who a billion years ago was forced to flee from Demogorge the God-Eater to another dimension where he was imprisoned. Ever since he has been trying to escape his imprisonment and return to Earth. Cthton is so powerful that if he was ever to return to the positive universe he would pose a threat to all of that dimension. He is served by the N'Garai a race of demons he created which ruled Earth millions of years ago and now live in another dimension, and the Broodlings of Chthon a race of nearly-all reptilian-humanoid hybrids on a Pacific Island similar in appearance to Deep Ones. Chthon was summoned to Earth by Mordred the Mystic resulting in freakish occurrences around the world. Rivers of blood flooded NY City, in a tidal wave. At the Avengers Mansion, a mystical effect spread across the land, turning any it touched into stone. The seas above Atlantis were boiling and solid amber encased San Francisco. Pillars of fire fell upon Wakanda in East Africa. Out of control thorn-covered vine-like plant life was overrunning Philadelphia. Toronto was overrun by swarms of flesh-eating insects. A ring of newly created volcanoes erupted in central Florida. The Arizona desert was hit by the worst snowstorm in history. When he possessed the mutant Quicksilver his mystical powers caused chaos throughout the Earth, transforming the world. A Lovecraftian organism (tentacles & mouths) appeared wherever he ran and began to replicate and spread like a tidal wave, threatening to engulf the planet. The Marvel Multiverse In the Marvel Multiverse there are no Outer Gods, no Dreamlands, and most of the races of the Mythos don't exist. God-like entities and beings of the Cthulhu Mythos that exist in the Marvel Multiverse are all Old Ones, including those who in the Cthulhu Mythos are Outer Gods. The infinite Multiverse does have cosmic omnipotent entities such as the "One-Above-All" (ruler of the Multiverse), the "One Below All" (the devil of the Multiverse), "Eternity" (the aspect of time), "Infinity" (the aspect of space), "Living Tribunal" (the Caretaker), and the "Firmaments" (representatives of the previous versions of the Multiverse, total of 7 so far). Each universe has its own cosmic pantheon of sorts consisting of abstract entities (manifestation of Eternity and Infinity, and the aspects of Death, Oblivion, Master Order, Lord Chaos, Mistress Love, and Master Hate), a race of Space Gods (the Celestials), various alien pantheons (e.g. the Skrull gods and the Shi'ar gods), primordial Elder Gods, the sentient Phoenix Force, the sentient Enigma Force, and the planet eater, Galactus. Unlike the Outer Gods of the Cthulhu Mythos, their purpose and/or agenda is not a mystery to those in the know. There are also beings ruling adjacent dimensions with powers comparable to a cosmic being (e.g. Dormammu of the Dark Dimension). When they make their presence known to mortals, the cosmic abstracts take the form they desire (e.g. The One Above All) or the form that mortal beings see varies depending on the species (e.g. Galactus). It's a cosmos with interstellar and intergalactic empires with races possessing technology that can destroy planets, stars, and even dwarf galaxies. With starships able to travel millions of light years within minutes or hours. Races that are "normal" and have no powers to races with powers (shapeshifting, psionic, energy manipulation, etc). The oldest interstellar empire is the 10+ million year old intergalactic empire of the Skrulls (a race of shapeshifting reptilian humanoids, with a sub-species of super-powered mutants) which has waxed and waned in cycles, and in at least one reality it is a billion year old empire. The Shi'ar are a relatively young intergalactic empire that rule a million worlds. There are swarms of locust-like races, hive-mind races, machine races, techno-organic races, and magic-using spacefaring races. Some of these races fit the definition of cosmic horror, such as the Dire Wraiths (vampiric sorcerers), the Phalanx (techno-organics) and the Brood (insectoid). Within the cosmos are interstellar and intergalactic organizations (peacekeeping, religions, corporations, criminal organizations, etc) There exist artifacts of mystical or cosmic power that can alter reality at a planetary level, galactic level, or universe level. In addition there are also mystical and cosmic artifacts that can bestow on an individual god-like powers of varying levels. It is a multiverse with organizations (e.g. the Congress of Realities and the Time Variance Authority) and individuals (e.g. Kang the Conqueror, Ann'var, and Hyperstorm) who are multiversal in nature, with a presence in dozens or hundreds of realities, most of whom are multiversal and/or temporal conquerors. Some of them are simply destroyers of universes or dimensions such as Hunger, the World-Eater, and Abraxas. On Earth, while Chthon is an Old One it is not yet clear if his fellow Elder Gods of Earth such as Set or Gaia are also Old Ones. Besides the Elder Gods of Earth who emerged a billion years ago there are other equally ancient Elder Gods elsewhere in the universe such as the Vishanti (trio), Chaos King, Glory, and Knull. Some of these are eldritch cosmic horrors (e.g. Knull, the Chaos King, Set, & Glory), as evil as the Many-Angled Ones. There are also various pantheons (e.g. Chinese, Japanese, Aztec, Egyptian, Olympian, Asgardian, etc) and Hell Lords (rulers of Hell dimensions). In addition there are eldritch demonic beings that are not considered part of any aforementioned groups such as Null the Living Darkness and the Dragon of the Moon. There is a R'lyeh mentioned during the Hyborian Age and in the modern era, Doctor Strange accidentally released "The Thing from R'lyeh" when he weakened the barriers holding back the Old Ones. Later in the first decade of the 21st century, the sunken city of "R'Llyeh" (perhaps misspelled) was inhabited by the Aqueos (underwater Atlantean vampires). There is also an unnamed "City Below the Seas" in the Pacific Ocean, where there is a Kaiju-sized like Undergod sleeping (a giant octopus-squid, Cthulhu-like dark god). Gallery of Cthulhu Mythos in Marvel Shuma-Gorath_(Marvel_VS_System_Trading_Card).jpg|Shuma-Gorath (Ruler of the Many-Angled Ones) Cthulhu_(Marvel_Comics).jpg|Cthulhu (Moon Knight) Nyarlathotep_(Marvel_Comics).jpg|Nyarlathotep (Journey into Mystery) Yog-Sothoth_(Marvel_Comics).jpg|Yog-Sothoth (Savage Sword of Conan) Tsathoggua_(Marvel_Comics).jpg|Tsathouggua (Savage Sword of Conan) Zvilpogghua_(Marvel_Comics).jpg|Zvilpogghua (Ultimate Fantastic Four) Serpent_Men_(Marvel_Comics).png|Serpent Men (Marvel Comics) Deep_Ones_(Marvel_Comics).jpg|Deep Ones (Haunt of Horror Lovecraft) Shoggoth_(Marvel_Comics).jpg|Shoggoth (Conan the Savage) Nightgaunt_(Marvel_Comics).jpg|Nightgaunt (Conan the Barbarian) Abdul_Abdul_Alhazred_(Marvel_Comics).jpg|Abdul Alhazred the Mad Arab Necronomicon_(Marvel_Comics).jpg|Necronomicon Gallery of Marvel-only Old Ones Chthon_(Carnage_Vol_2).jpg|Chthon Slorioth_(Marvel_Comics).jpg|Slorioth Asteroth_(Marvel_Comics).jpg|Asteroth Quoggoth_(Marvel_Comics).jpg|Quoggoth (creation of Shuma-Gorath) Many-Angled_One_(Marvel_Comics).png|Many-Angled One Many-Angled_One_(Guardians_of_the_Galaxy_Vol_2_1).png|Many-Angled One (Guardians of the Galaxy) Many-Angled_Ones_(Marvel_Comics).jpg|Many-Angled Ones (Cancerverse) Cancerverse_(Marvel_Comics).png|Many-Angled Ones (Cancerverse) Cancerverse_2_(Marvel_Comics).png|Many-Angled Ones (Cancerverse) Daemon_Ships_(Marvel_Comics).png|Daemon Ships (Cancerverse) Gallery of Misc Lovecraftian-like Beings One_Below_All_(Marvel_Comics).jpg|One Below All Chaos_King_(Marvel_Comics).jpg|Chaos King Dormammu_(Marvel_Comics).jpg|Dormammu Set_(Marvel_Comics).jpg|Set Dragon_of_the_Moon_(Marvel_Comics).jpg|Dragon of the Moon Null_the_Living_Darkness_(Marvel_Comics).jpg|Null the Living Darkness Glory_(Marvel_Comics).jpg|Glory Alioth_(Marvel_Comics).jpg|Alioth Moridun_(Marvel_Comics).jpg|Moridun Hunger_(Marvel_Comics).jpg|Hunger World-Eater_(Marvel_Comics).jpg|World-Eater Uluath_(Marvel_Comics).jpg|Uluath Ann'var_(Marvel_Comics).jpg|Ann'var External Links * Many-Angled Ones * Shuma-Gorath * Cancerverse * Many-Angled One Invasion (Event) * Elder Gods of Earth * Chthon * Set * Atlantis Attacks (Event) * One Below All * Chaos King * Chaos War (Event) * Dormammu Category:Comics Category:Cthulhu Mythos publishers